Liesbeth Baarveld-Schlaman

Elisabeth Maria Petronella Baarveld-Schlaman (15 October 1934 – 14 March 2012) was a Dutch politician. She was a member of the Senate of the Netherlands from 1981 to 1995, a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and vice-chairperson of the Defense Committee of the Western European Union. She was a member of the Democrats 66 and the Labour Party.

Early life Baarveld-Schlaman was born on 15 October 1934 in Arnhem. She grew up in a Roman Catholic working class family. Her parents were Petrus Lambertus Maria Schlaman, a bus driver, and Wilhelmina Bernardina Kuster. She had an older sister and two younger brothers, one of whom died in infancy. She received a master's degree in German, and began work as an executive secretary at a hospital in Arnhem. On 8 June 1964, she married Willem Geert Baarveld, an engineer. She spoke about the fear of nuclear war in her maiden speech in the Senate. She served as the first spokeswoman for foreign affairs for the PvdA Senate group and chairwoman of the foreign affairs standing committee in the Senate. She was the substitute member for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 30 September 1981 to 1 January 1984 and from 1 October 1987 to 28 June 1992 and a member from 28 June 1992 to 25 September 1995 and vice-chairperson of the Defense Committee of the Western European Union. She was the rapporteur on human rights in the Middle East. Baarveld-Schlaman met with a number of leading figures in international politics throughout her career, including Yasser Arafat, George H. W. Bush, José Napoleón Duarte, Alexander Dubcĕk and Hosni Mubarak.

She was also involved in the Ministry of Transport and Water Management. Baarveld-Schlaman spoke on behalf of her group in 1992 during the discussion of the bill to approve the Maastricht Treaty. She also rejected the participation of Dutch frigates in the Gulf War and was one of twelve members of her group who spoke out against military action in Iraq. In 1985, she was in the minority of her party for voting in favour of the Scientific Education Act 1981. In 1990, the PvdA group in the Senate nominated Baarveld-Schlaman as its candidate for the first female President of the Senate but the party leadership instead supported Herman Tjeenk Willink. As a result, she withdrew her candidacy.

In 1994, Baarveld-Schlaman was appointed Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion and in 1995 she received the Pro Merito Medal from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. She was a self-confident woman who sometimes stood out because of her exuberant clothing. She left office on 13 June 1995.

Later life Baarveld-Schlaman died on 14 March 2012 in Ermelo at the age of 77. She was commemorated on 17 April 2012 in the Senate.